Chapter Fourteen

"Ahh," Greg clutched the sink counter in front of him, giving Nick a nod to continue. He woke up three hours ago with cramps in his sides. He tried to go back to sleep with the agonising cramps, but the intensity of them started to build up at irregular intervals, until his waters started leaking out of him. He eventually woke Nick up to help him, immediately making the man worry as the c-section wasn't booked for another week and a half.

But as usual, the baby's had a mind of their own.

"I think it's still just waters goin'." Nick reported, pulling the supportive elastic waist around his partner's stomach. "Is it still hurtin'?"

Greg nodded slightly, still bracing himself against the counter. "Last one was about eight or nine minutes ago. They're still pretty regular, I think this is the real deal." He smiled slightly, a little excited that he was going to meet his twins soon. "We haven't even got all their stuff together yet."

"We've got clothes, diapers, formula stuff..." Nick tried to think of what they had off the top of his head. "Cots, what else do they need?"

"A lot more diapers, since there's two of them. We don't have a pushchair for them. We don't have nearly enough clothes for two babies. I think we need loads more bottles and stuff too." Greg gave out another groan, turning to lean against the sink as the contraction ripped its way through his body. "Ow... don't touch me." He pushed Nick's hands away from his sensitive back. "You need to get the boys ready. Put them in their seats in the car."

"You okay?"

"Go." Greg hurried him along, wishing he could get this part over with fast.

Reluctantly leaving the bathroom, Nick quickly threw on some clothes for himself, starting to feel really nervous about what lay ahead. He grabbed his phone off the dresser, giving his mother in law a quick text as he made his way into the boys room. They planned on leaving the boys with Evelyn during the scheduled c-section, but she was away on holiday until next week, so he had to get the boys up and ready to head to the hospital with them.

Easier said than done as it was two o' clock in the morning.

Nick lifted his eldest out of his bed first, pulling a sweatshirt on over his spotted blue pyjamas. "Shh, shh, I know, I'm sorry." He softly soothed his sleeping little boy, putting some sneakers on his feet. "We gotta go to the hospital, bud. Papa's havin' the babies."

"Now?" Colt rested his head against his father's shoulder, keeping his eyes closed as Nick tied his laces.

"Yeah, right now. Papa's waters have gone already, so I have to get you and your brother into the car." He lay his son back on his bed, crawling across the floor on his hands and knees, towards the second bed. He swept back the warm covers from his little boy, dressing his four year old in a sweatshirt too. He lifted both his children into his arms, carrying them downstairs to the car. He hoped that Catherine or Sara could take care of them once they got to the hospital, because he wanted to be with Greg to see the birth of his twins.

"Dada?"

"It's alright, shh, shh." He hushed little Jackson, putting his arms through the straps of his seat. He gently combed his fingers through his tousled hair, pecking a kiss to his forehead, before he hurried back into the house for Greg. "Ya'ight, ready to go?" He supported his weight against him, helping him down the last few steps. "Should I put somethin' down to protect my seat?" He joked, getting a smile out of Greg as he helped him into the passenger seat.

"Don't make me laugh." He warned him, feeling as though he was being ripped open by the babies inside him. "Did you try Doctor Jordan's number again?"

"Yeah, he picked up before I got you dressed. He's about to go into surgery for another scheduled c-section. He said to let the hospital take a look at you first, and he'll see us as soon as he's done." Nick pulled the seatbelt down for Greg, letting the younger man plug it in. "I just gotta get your hospital bag, in case."

"Okay." Greg closed his eyes, holding his sides as he braced himself through another contraction.

Nick hurried back into the house, hearing Greg calling out to him as he searched for the overnight hospital bag. He found it beside the sofa where Greg had been going over his lists of things he needed to take with him in two weeks. He hurried back out to the car, rushing round to Greg's side as he called his name again. "Is it a contraction?"

"No." Greg turned his leg slightly, showing Nick the blood seeping through the inside of his light grey sweatpants.

"It could just be the mucus plug thingy." Nick hoped, setting the bag down at his feet. "We'll be there in a minute." He assured him, closing the door, so he could run round to the other side. They hit some traffic on the way over, but still managed to get there ahead of their usual time frame. "There's Sara." Nick pointed her out as they entered the parking lot.

Sara swept back the hood from her jacket, following Nick's truck over to his parking space. She pulled open Nick's door for him, giving him a smile as he climbed out of the car. "Beat yah here. I just got off shift. You excited?"

"Nervous. Thanks, Sara." Nick hurried round to the other side, taking his partner's seatbelt off. He knew how much pain he was in and how scared he was, but he didn't want to move him too quickly. "Jackson's pushchair is in the back." He noticed Sara unbuckling his son in the back.

"Okay, that would be easier." She quickly got it out, fiddling with the unfamiliar contraptions for a few minutes, before she got it open. She got Jackson out of the car and into the stroller, realising how much he had grown since the last time she babysat for them. He was just a little toddler then, but he was quickly turning into a child.

Sara returned to the car, unbuckling Colt's seatbelt. He was getting taller too, he was even starting to look more and more like Greg.

"Can you manage?" Nick watched her trying to lift him out, getting a nod from her as she tried to hold him comfortably against her side. He was getting a lot heavier too, putting some strain on her back. "I can take him if you want."

"I can manage." Sara took hold of the stroller handles, following the two of them inside.

One of the on call nurses took them through to a room to be assessed, leaving Sara in the waiting room with the children. She positioned Jackson's stroller against the wall beside her, while she sat down with Colt in her arms. She couldn't believe how big the two of them were already, making her a little jealous of what Nick and Greg had. She was more worried than she was jealous at the moment though. She had only ever seen Greg in that much pain when she walked on the scene of his brutal beating.

Even then he wasn't crying out in pain, making her worried that something was really wrong.

Greg was given a wheelchair to take him to one of the maternity assessment rooms. He got himself onto the bed, seeing the concern on the nurses' faces as they saw his sweatpants bottoms soaked with blood. He knew that Nick had said it could have been his bloody show to try and calm him down, but he wasn't convinced from the amount of pain that he was in.

Nick stayed out of their way as they hooked his partner up to all sorts of machines, asking him questions every so often about his level of pain and details of what happened to bring him here. He watched as they poked and prodded his husband for a few more minutes, before they got him a hospital gown to dress into.

"Have you ever used gas and air before, Greg?" One of the nurses asked, getting a slight nod out of him as he writhed in pain. "Alright, here you go." She handed over the mouth piece, checking he really did know how to use it, before she went to find a doctor.

The gas and air barely numbed the pain he was feeling, but he didn't want to part with it for even a moment.

"Did you call my Mom?"

"Not yet." Nick pulled out his phone, seeing the sign just outside their door. "I'll have to take it outside."

"Call your Mom too." Greg called out to him, adjusting himself on the bed to try and get comfortable. He didn't want to take any other pain killers in case it did something to the babies, but he couldn't stand this for much longer.

By three in the morning, the boys were still fast asleep, while Sara tried to keep herself awake. Sara had laid Colt down across the two seats in front of her, with her jacket as a blanket, so she could get up every few minutes to see what was going on and try to keep herself awake. She had only seen Nick once in the hallway since they got here, making her more than a little anxious as she had no idea what was going on.

She jumped to her feet as soon as she saw him again, letting him know where she was. "Hey, what's going on? Is he okay?"

"Eh... we just went up for an ultrasound scan upstairs. They think one of the baby's placenta's has completely come loose. They called it an abruption, that's why he's bleedin'. Might be why Greg is in so much pain. They wonna do an emergency c-section. I called Greg's Mom, Jean and she's on her way, but she's comin' from California, so are you alright to stay with the boys?"

"Yeah, yeah... don't worry about it." She assured him. "Are you going in now?"

"They wonna top up his fluids and give him an epidural, before we head in. Greg's doc is on his way too, but they might start without him. Here's my phone." He handed it over to her. "Jean said she'd ring as soon as she gets close. You can leave the boys with her once she gets here if you want."

"I can wait around." She wanted to see Greg again at the end of it all, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep if she left without seeing him again.

"Okay, thanks Sara." Nick hurried back to the room where his husband was being treated. His husband looked a little paler than he did earlier, but he was still snapping at the nurses for taking their time trying to dig a needle into his arm. "Hi, you okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Greg snapped in a sarcastic tone.

"Sorry." He stepped aside from the bed, giving Greg a moment to breathe in some more gas and air. "Sara's gonna stay with the boys for us. Your Mom is on her way and so is Doctor Jordan. Did they do anythin' since I left?"

Greg shook his head, taking another deep breath of the gas and air. "No, the anaesthetist is on her way down for my epidural." He reached out for Nick after a few minutes, clutching his hand tightly as he came closer. "No more baby's." He gave him a stern warning.

"I doubt that will be an issue once I'm completely neutered."

"You're supposed to celebrate the news when all they found was a cyst." Greg had stopped worrying about him the day he got his results, but he knew Nick was still worried as they wanted to take his other testicle to rid him of any chance of the cysts turning cancerous. He thought he would be pleased by the news, but like most men, he wasn't willing to part with his last testicle. "Did you bring my hospital bag?"

"It's on Jackson's pushchair." He assured him, taking a slight step back as nurse stepped around him to get to the monitor besides Greg's bed.

"Are you coming in with him?" She asked him, getting a nod out of him. "Alright, we need to get you some scrubs. The anaesthetist is just getting some clean scrubs herself. She just got out of another c-section. She'll be with you in a moment."

"Can Nick stay for the epidural?" Greg quickly stopped them from leaving, not wanting to be alone for that part. He found it really hard to sit completely still when there was a needle going in his back. He knew that the only person who could control him and stop him from hurting himself was Nick.

"Yeah, I'll bring your scrubs in here." The nurse agreed, taking a few minutes to get them, before she handed them over.

Nick pulled the bottoms on over his sweatpants and the top over his t-shirt, so he didn't have any of the itchy fabric against his skin. He moved round the other side of the bed as soon as the anaesthetist came in, helping Greg to sit up. He held his arms in his own, resting their heads together as the anaesthetist told them what she was doing. Greg was still having contractions and still in a lot of pain from the blood loss, but he managed to stay as still as he possibly could through it all.

"Alright, all done. I'll see you in surgery in a few minutes, where I'll talk you through what they're doing." She smiled at them both, ditching her latex gloves in the bin on her way out the room.

"This is it then." Greg couldn't tell if he was excited or afraid of the outcome. He knew that they probably would come early, but he wasn't expecting this. "Is Doctor Jordan here yet?"

"He said we'd probably see him in surgery when he gets in." Nick leant over his partner, sealing a kiss to his lips. He couldn't bear the thought of losing him, but he couldn't get the thought out of his mind, ever since he knew that something was wrong with both Greg and the babies. "It's half past three. November..." He checked his watch. "Tenth. Another new birthday to remember."

"Two." Greg pointed out to him, starting to feel tired again. "If we conceived in March, how old are they now?"

"Did we?" Nick gave him a curious look, barely remembering the beginning of the pregnancy as so much had happened since. "It's about... eight months. So about thirty four, thirty five weeks. Why?"

"I just don't want them to spend any time in hospital. They are premature twins though, right?"

"I don't know, I can't remember what the doc said." Nick shrugged, wishing he had paid more attention during their last few scans that determined when the babies would be well enough to be delivered, but he had a lot on his mind. "Hey, don't worry about it. You've got enough on your mind without addin' all this to it. Just try and relax. The babies feel what you feel remember. You don't want them to be born stressed out, do you?"

Greg shook his head from side to side, guessing it was time as some people suddenly filed into the room. He managed a quick wave to Nick, before he was wheeled away to his surgery. He gave out a small sigh of relief as Doctor Jordan let him know that he was there, before the man went to get scrubbed in, leaving him with the anaesthetist and various other nurses that were setting up equipment. including two cooling tables against one wall. He remembered being excited to see one of them at Jackson's birth, but now he just felt terrified.

After a few minutes or so, Nick was finally escorted towards the room, getting seated beside Greg's head, while they were setting up the operating equipment near Greg's stomach. He gulped as he sat down, quickly taking Greg's hand to comfort himself and the younger man.

"I bet you can't wait to get your figure back." Doctor Jordan smirked, before he begun. "Can you feel this?" He asked, getting a head shake from Greg. "Alright, we're ready to begin. Let's get these twins out."

"Let me know if you feel anything, sweetheart." The anaesthetist gave him a smile, turning her attention to his blood pressure and things.

Greg immediately tilted his head back, looking up into Nick's eyes above him. He looked just as nervous as him, but his deep soulful eyes were always a source of comfort to him. He felt the usual strange tugging and pulling from his stomach, before Nick took a peek around the curtain that was up. He didn't know what he could see, but a smile suddenly spread across the man's lips, the same time he felt some pressure in his abdomen.

"Ahh..." He flinched, feeling the tearing in his waist.

"If it gets too much, just let me know." The anaesthetist spoke softly, watching him desperately trying to the bear the pain. She couldn't give him the strong pain killers yet as the baby's were still attached to him, so she had to wait for the doctors to get them out. "Let me know if it's too painful, Greg. We can put you under for the rest of it."

"No, I want Nick here." He clutched the man's hand tighter, knowing he wouldn't be allowed in if he was put under. He knew it would be over soon, so he closed his eyes, trying to think about the two babies he would have at the end of it, rather than the pain he was in now.

"Coming out backwards." Doctor Jordan reported, getting the nurse beside him to apply some pressure to Greg's abdomen, so he could get a better grip on the slippery little baby. He placed the first baby on his patient's legs, getting some clamps from the nurse to cut the cord. "You wonna see what you got?" He hooked his fingers around the baby's neck, scooping up their tiny little legs, before he lifted them over the curtain to where Greg could see.

"A boy." Greg smiled widely at his partner beside him, tilting his head back as he watched the first twin being carried over to the cooling table. He was considerably smaller than his brothers, but his cries seemed just as loud. Greg couldn't stop smiling as soon as he heard his cries, immediately feeling the joy he had been hoping to feel when his twins arrived.

The new baby boy was quickly wiped down with towels, getting checked over by the paediatrician. He desperately tried to see around all the people, trying to see if there was any movement in his baby boy's limbs. He caught a slight twitch of his new son's arm, before they started to manhandle him again, obstructing Greg's view.

"Is he okay?" He looked up at Nick beside him, who hadn't taken his eyes off the baby. "Nick?"

"I can't see." Nick leant further back on his chair, seeing a stethoscope against his son's little chest. "Yeah, he's breathin'." He saw them wrapping him in a blue blanket, before they wrapped him in a second white one to keep him warm. He stayed out of the way as one of the nurses brought him over, placing him on the bed beside, Greg.

"I can't believe it's another boy." He smirked, looking at Nick beside him. "He looks just like you."

"He hasn't got hair." Nick noticed, gently brushing his thumb across his baby boy's wrinkled forehead. "Colt and Jacks both had hair, right?"

"Uh huh," Greg agreed with him, secretly hoping that they weren't both boys. Even though he was the most adorable baby boy he had ever seen. He had Nick's slightly bronzed complexion, with little clusters of moles beneath his ear, the side of his eye and a few dotted around on his chin. He didn't have a single hair on his head, but he did have gorgeously thick eyelashes.

"I thought they were gonna like chubby little cherubs." Nick confessed, having never seen such a tiny little baby before. "You know what we never did? Picked out names. We haven't even thought of any."

Greg smiled at him, before he felt the familiar pressure after only a few minutes with his newborn. He heard the clattering of surgical equipment, feeling as though someone was leaning on his chest. He waited in suspense for what seemed like hours, before he saw his second baby being carried across the room. He could immediately tell the difference between them, but it wasn't their facial features that stood out to him, it was the fact that baby number two was blue and floppy. The arms and legs of baby number two wobbled like jelly, bringing back his feelings of worry again. He didn't even know what he had and he was already scared to lose them.

Another paediatrician and a swarm of nurses suddenly crowded around baby number two, not even communicating as they got to work on whatever they were doing for the second baby.

"Baby just had a little bit of a hard time coming out." Doctor Jordan peered over the curtain to give his patient some reassurance. "This is baby B the top one whose placenta came away from the wall. They're a little bit stunned, but the doctor over there is gonna help em out."

The information didn't make him worry any less, but at least he knew what was going on now. He feared that all this had something to do with him. Maybe if he had woken Nick up earlier when his contractions first started, they could have got to the hospital earlier and the placenta would have never come away from the wall. They could have been the early warning signs that something was wrong and he just tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.

"Would you like to know what you got?" One of the younger nurses called over to them from the cooling table.

Nick nodded, while his husband was still in shock.

"It's a girl." She proudly reported. "She is breathing. She just needs a little help. She's a little bit stunned from the delivery."

"Okay." Nick thanked her, turning back to Greg and their newborn baby boy. "Hear that baby, you've got a girl. Our boys have got a new little sister." He rested his head against the pillow beside Greg, trying not to worry too much as he looked at his new little boy. Ever since he was handed over to them, he had stopped his delicate cries and started softly sucking his lips as if he knew that he was safe with them.

He only hoped that they would get to hold their new daughter the same.

After a few minutes, Greg heard a delicate cry from across the room. It only lasted a couple of seconds, before the nurses started talking again. He turned to look at his new baby boy beside him, smiling slightly as his baby was starting to open his eyes for the first time. He snapped them shut after a second or two, squeezing his eyelids tightly shut, before he tried again.

"He's got blue eyes." Greg whispered, looking at Nick beside him. "He's our first blue eyed boy."

Nick smiled back at him, looking over his shoulder as they continued to work on their second baby. He couldn't see much between them all, but the baby didn't look so blue anymore. There was an unusual heart shaped sticker stuck to the baby's chest with a wire running to one of the machines and a tiny little oxygen mask a few inches above the baby's head.

"You alright?" He gently brushed his fingers through Greg's hair, watching their baby boy smacking his lips together in a sucking motion again. "I think he's hungry."

"I am too."

"Getcha some food soon." The older man promised him, turning back to the cooling table. He watched them finally swaddling their second baby, bringing the beautiful pink baby over to them. "G, open your eyes." He placed his hand against his son's side as the nurse lay the two babies together next to Greg. He could barely see them over their swaddled blankets, but it still brought tears to his eyes. "Is she okay?" He glanced up at the nurse that had stayed at their side.

"Yeah, I think she was just a bit stunned from the delivery. Unlike her brother, her cord was wrapped around her from head to toe. You can have a quick hold of them both, then we'll get the paediatricians to give them a proper once over. They can tell you more then." She smiled at them, leaving them be a moment.

"Greg, how's the pain?" The anaesthetist asked him, glancing over the sheet at the doctors. "He's losing blood pressure."

"He's haemorrhaging from somewhere." Doctor Jordan reported, getting the suction tube to try and clear the blood.

Nick immediately cast his eyes towards his partner, realising his eyes were closed and his arms were limp. He only had a second or two to look at him, before someone ushered him out of the room. He peered through the slightly open door as his newborn babies were taken back to the cooling tables, so they had their hands free to work on his husband.

He felt his heart sinking in his chest as he watched an oxygen mask going over Greg's mouth, before they hooked up another bag of blood. He couldn't lose Greg now, not after everything they had already been through.

It wasn't fair.

Thank you for reading, please review.

~ Holly